Too Cold

Today's temp in north Georgia is 27*. How cold does it have to get before you shut down? We have a Belanger set up and the first set of curtains have ice build up along the bottom.

Thanks Shawn

12 degrees here in Wichita and not predicted to get above 30 degrees anytime in the next week and our water boiler went out. The weep mizer did not keep the wands from freezing shut. We have one bay operational except for the soapy brush's. We shut her down and went home :( Monday I will begin putten the boiler back together. But I dont think things will thaw out for a long time/
I heard there where several automatics in town frozen and closed ......This is most unusaal for us to have this cold so long. Global Warming :)

27 is a heat wave here in NH.....we only close if the windsheild is around negative -20. If we closed for 0degree to 32degree we would never be open... keep the back door closed as much as possible and maybe a K1 heater blowing on the cloth or radiant tube heaters hanging over cloth equipment

Thanks I told my manager to pick up a kerosene heater from Lowe's $349.

I've had employees show up to work in shorts at 27* here in NE Ohio.

-18 here on Saturday in Minnesota and we washed plenty.

For those of you that don't know this, you can purge your chemical lines in a pinch with anti freeze windshield washer fluid at shutdown. This will keep the product in the lines from freezing overnight and facilitates opening up the next day. I actually buy a case of the stuff at autozone, etc. and just pour it directly into the chemical already mixed in the tank. Just turn off your water supply to the hydrominders to keep them from filling back up with regular product. You can usually tell when the altered product is at the nozzle due to decrease in foaminess change in color, etc. I shoot for a roughly 20-30% solution of WW fluid in the lines.

Another thing I've done is place a salamander-type heater than runs off kerosene. I place it inside the tunnel with a clock switch on it. I would turn when I left for about 15 minutes per hour to help keep the chill out.

You guys up north are set up totally different than southerners. Most tunnels in this area have no heat (except for the office) and manual roll-up doors. It becomes a real battle to stay open when freezing temps wreak havoc. It's just such a rare event that we don't expend any real money to prepare for cold. I started to install some floor heat on my last project, but Al Gore told me my danger was drowning from melting polar ice caps. As a result I used my floor heat budget to install my car wash on pilings. :)

Yeah, true that, Greg. It's a real battle to stay open when temp gets even to 20's. Where I am, most car washes close or open late at low 20's. I remember from last year, that I was able to open at 20's, but under 20 then I'm done. And I believe most washes, if not all, in Atlanta area shut down until temp gets back to at least 20's. So washing at below 0 is like not even imaginable to us. Now, keep in mind that we're also a full-service. I think at below 0, our glass cleaners start crystalizing as soon as you spray into air. I don't think there is anything that can fix that other than moving the cars to heated lube bays or detail shop to finish.

First the rain, now the cold. It's clear sky outside but freaking cold. It's like a tease and there is nothing we can do about it. Dang it!

-tom

Well the 12 degree nights froze our wands up becasue the weepmiser went of due to false readings and thought it was 36 degrees :( Got that fixed and of cource the water boiler blew a ignighter new years eve and none available till monday ..:) All fixed now but the wash is not totally unfrozen, only one of six bays has pressure wo the weep mizer will not UN-ICE the hoses it feeds will probably have to wait till mother nature takes care of it with a above freezing thaw, maybe next sunday they say mean while we are getting O yes O degree nights for wendnesday anf thursday nights :( The pump house is ok as the radiat gas heater is wroking well,,,well enough that the idiot that installed the temp sender for the weep mizer installed it on the out side of the concrete wall right behind the radiant heater ,well du. By the time this car wash is torn down for somthing worth while, I will have learned all about self service car wash's haha
I disasembled and repaired the 495,000 btu Lockinvar boiler with the help of my wife by our selves and made it work :)
Hope this year is warmer and more rewarding than last for all you guys, with out your inpoot and help I would be lost . THANKS

Well it started snowing up here in North Georgia. Great another lost day what the hell was I thinking when I got into the car wash biz?.

I have a self serve in N.Ga. Different animal ...currently running a 100 foot Hanna equip. Express in Springfield MO. 16 degs. sun and no wind is what I need to run smoothly ( not really set up like a northern wash).. I too have a curtain up front that will freeze with just a little wind if the temps are low...Today it's 19 lots of sun but a 25 mph wind has shut me down... All dressed up and can't go :-(

Well its snowing here today. Temps will drop down to 19* tonight but will recover on Saturday to 38*. tonight the cash machines will drop gold on the roads (salt) so it looks like my February wont be so bad after all. :)

I don't know that it's "gold". Due to snow, we effectively lost our Fri and Sat. We'll have more than usual amount of wash for next few days due to the salt and all. But do you think that it'll more than make up? I mean, I think having decent Fri and Sat is far better money-wise than have nasty snow to shut down for couple of days and hussle for next few days to make up for it. It may give the "impression" that snow is good because the next few days following is busier than normal, but again, I think I'd much prefer to have decent Fri and Sat followed by decent weekdays versus shutting down Fri and Sat and trying to make up for it next few days.

You'll always have rain or snow. But, I don't think either brings the "gold".

When GA had the drought in 2007, that was the best summer we ever had.

-tom

It seams people will wash the salt off there car more often then dirt. I will be expecting a very busy week. So far February has been bad for my bank account.

So far February has been bad for my account too.

So was January,December,October,September, and August. :(

November was pretty good though! Woo Hoo!

Yeah, looking back to 2009, all the months sucked including March and April except November and June. November and June was the only two months where we actually made some money. All the other months just sucked cash out of us.

Februray has started off so horribly. We already have short month to begin with. We gotta do some serious car washing for next couple of weeks to simply make up for the loss. But we already have forecast of rain overnight and temps won't get up to high 40's until Thursday.

They say March is just around the corner. But having seen how even the best month(i.e. March) can flitter away with bad weather, I'm not so confident. Still trying to keep positive spirits around the wash, but how much longer can I say "It'll get better, guys" to folks already getting bare bone hours. It's a miracle how they can keep food on the table with what little hours they get at the wash. I'm really sad for all of us. What's making it tougher is that I have to at least pretend that everything will get better.

But seriously, things will get better, right? Don't have too much time. Hope it happens quick. God, please bless us all!!!

-tom

Things will get better the only ? is can we survive till then :) And to add insult to bad weather, a new operation just took over some automatic sites owned by Quick Trip and they turned them into a flex service with free vaccums and two full time employees working all sites. That would be three new places this month . What do they THINK they know that know body else knows. Can they really think this is the time to expand...There are so many car wash's in this town its not even funny.

What? Do u mean QT the gas stations in GA? I didn't know that they had any auto carwashes.